5 Tips for Creating Prescreening Questions That Can Weed Out Poor Candidates

Prescreening questions not only take a good recruiting strategy to the next level, they also save hiring professionals valuable time and energy.

Think about it—if you’ve successfully cast a wide net with your approach to promoting your job posting, you’ve likely created a problem for yourself: managing the high number of unqualified applicants that submit for your role.

In fact, some studies estimate that up to 75 percent of applicants aren’t qualified for the job, which makes it time-consuming and sometimes downright impossible to comb through all of the resumes, cover letters, and applications that come your way.

So what’s a time-pressed recruiter or hiring leader to do? How do you properly vet applicants without expending endless hours and unnecessary energy on those who don’t fit the bill?

Two words: prescreening questions.

By crafting a few simple, direct prescreening questions that applicants must address, you are adding an important – but simple – layer into your online application process. In doing so, you’ll help your hiring team save time weeding out unqualified candidates. Think of it as a recruitment sieve – all the applications you receive go in, but with prescreening questions, only the most viable candidates shake out, which allows you to focus your energy on the right people.

But how do you get started creating your prescreening questions? Read on for five simple tips on creating prescreening questions to reduce your workload and save you time, then continue reading for a list of MightyRecruiter’s 10 most valuable prescreening questions:

1. Be specific. The more open ended a question, the more applicants will answer in the affirmative to remain in consideration. For example, don’t just ask candidates if they have copyediting experience. Ask them if they have copy editing experience using AP Style.

2. Choose your wording carefully. Prescreening questions need to comply with EEOC regulations, other federal regulations, as well as state and city ordinances. Stay away from any questions that could be deemed discriminatory. It’s a good practice always to have a lawyer review your prescreening questions before you post them.

3. Shoot for consistency. Every person who applies for a given position must be asked the same prescreening questions to ensure the effectiveness of this method. Failing to do so could also cause potential legal problems down the road.

4. Stick to your “must-have” qualifications. Limit prescreening questions to the specific experiences and requirements that are vital to the job. Adding in questions about “nice-to-have” skills will just muddy the waters.

5. Keep the questions job-related. There needs to be a direct link between your prescreening questions and the job’s requirements, particularly if your intent is to eliminate applicants from the candidate pool. Only include a question about a particular certification or credential if it’s a requisite for the job.

MightyRecruiter’s 10 Most Common Prescreening Questions

Are you sold on the idea of writing prescreening questions but don’t know where to start? MightyRecruiter is here to help. To get started creating your own prescreening questions, check out our list of 10 simple but common prescreening questions, which can be used as-is or adapted to fit your personal specifications.

We also put together a mini-guide that gives you more insight into how you can use prescreening to refine your applicant pool.

And finally, if you want an easy way to integrate prescreening into your application process, sign up for your free MightyRecruiter trial today! Our solution makes is quick and easy to integrate prescreening questions into your workflow, and you can even choose from our bank of questions if you’re having a hard time deciding where to begin.